Friday, December 23, 2011

Elf on the Shelf Shopping Trick

As it seems like most kids are this year, my 4-and 6-year-olds are in love with Ralphie, their Elf on the Shelf.

They love coming down every morning to see where he has moved to. My son even decided that he would prefer to give Ralphie his letter to Santa since he knew Ralphie had a straight shot to Mr. Claus.

And while I have gotten creative with ideas as to why Ralphie didn't move on a couple of nights, I am most proud of how Ralphie has become my shopping buddy...well, sort of.

My 4-year old daughter hasn't really given us a ton of ideas for what she wants for Christmas (perhaps that is because she got everything she wanted for her birthday in the beginning of November), but needless to say, we have had a tough time figuring out what to get her. And since she has preschool just 3 days a week for 3 hours at a time, she is with me most of the time. And that time includes shopping time.

Here's my little shopping trick: While shopping with my daughter, she found something she liked. I asked if she wanted to take it home to show it to our elf, Ralphie, so that he knew exactly what to tell Santa. Of course, she said yes. I explained to her that I would have to return the item (in this case, a Pillow Pet) to the store the next day because Santa would be making one especially for her. When we got home, she talked to Ralphie and showed him the Pillow Pet. Then, while she was sleeping, Ralphie took the Pillow Pet to the North Pole for Santa to check out (a.k.a. the Pillow Pet was put in the Christmas present hiding spot in our garage.) She woke up the next morning to find Ralphie sitting in a new spot and the Pillow Pet was gone. She was thrilled when I told her Ralphie must have taken it to Santa.

I have since used the same tactic with a few other presents.

It is hard enough to go shopping with your kids and remember what they want, let alone go back at another time and pray that the item is still there.

I am proud to say our Elf on the Shelf has brought efficiency to our holiday shopping.

Thank you, brilliant Elf on the Shelf creator! You have added a fun element to preparing for the holidays and helped parents across the globe